I have often heard men say that a woman is her own worst enemy and it has infuriated me almost to the point of apoplexy. But in an abstract way, a woman is her own worst enemy because she often attacks her own sex. From an early age I developed a strong aversion to persons of my own gender. First of all I was a blatant tomboy and then I just couldn’t stand the fussing, gossiping and backbiting cruelty that went on in the ranks of those made of ‘sugar and spice’. Looking back now-older and hopefully wiser than I was then- I can see that, like everyone else in society, those girls whom I had regarded with so much disdain were merely reacting to the world in the only way they’d been taught.

From early on “the sistuhs’ (this is what I now think of all women as: “sistuhs” to myself, no matter how they react to the world) are not being engendered with a sense of divine self. Don’t define the word ‘divine’ along lines of religious dogma. We all came into life as divine spirits, meant to be happy and perfect and experiencing love at all levels of our lives. Women especially so.

I’m not being vain. Women represent the nurturing aspect of the earth and life. We are the inherent healers and the natural caregivers. We are in touch with the essence of the world, able to ‘flush out’ our systems, physically and otherwise, in tandem with the earth’s own cycle even. All the world’s oldest religions recognised that women were more in touch with their intuitive, compassionate nature. We are the ‘lovers’ in the widest sense of the word.

Well at least we were meant to be these things. But because of all the shit fed to us from birth we lose sight of the marvellous spirits we’re supposed to be and we turn into cowering or spiteful or angry human beings, full of fear and crying out hearts out, within and without. More often than not, this is the being we’ll express to the world and pass on to our own daughters, so the cycle goes. I’m not even trying to hear that this all our fault, because it’s not! But we have the ability to heal ourselves and mend this fractured cycle of bitter life. Forgive me if I sound preachy, but I’m making no apologies.

Angst is one of the biggest weapons used against women. What we need to do as ‘sistuhs’, is look at the kinds of hurt we inflict on each other and our own selves, then stop doing them! We need to look at how we express who we think we are and make certain we’re being honest with ourselves. Too often we fail to realise our intuitive nature, and we give way to the reasoning mind which is often so clogged with the world’s junk it can’t reason it’s way out of a bucket. We need to rally around other women who’s trying to effect a positive change– to all women in fact. Men do it, much better than we do.

It’s time the ‘sistuhs’ started loving the ‘sistuhs’ and herSELF. Every single day rise from your bed and repeat the words: “I AM NOT ABOUT RECEIVING PAIN IN THIS LIFETIME!” Then feel it, know it and get up and live. You are not alone.